Angels’ Voices
April 20, 2014 Easter A Matthew 28:1-10
Rev. Lesley Weir
So if you were with us during Advent, that time before Christmas, AND if you were paying attention back then, you might be wondering if you are in a time warp. Or if the pastor pulled out the wrong bulletin for Easter. I am of course referring to today’s sermon title: Angels’ Voices. Yes, that was our theme and the title of our sermons throughout Advent. And please, if you were here in Advent, and don’t recall any of this, please don’t tell me! But either way, yes, we are back to thinking about and talking about angels’ voices.
Matthew’s version of the resurrection is such fun. I mean it is filled with images that are lacking in the other tales, images that deserve to be the opening scenes of the next great blockbuster movie. There is an earthquake and the ground shudders and cracks, swaying trees and shifting rocks and gravel. Angels come down out of the clouds and with the touch of a finger push huge boulders aside. There is lightning and clothing so white we don’t really have words for it. Guards shake and shudder and then become stiff as boards. And we are told it all happens suddenly….SUDDENLY.
Standing in the midst of all of it are Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary”. Try to picture yourself in their sandals for a moment. Even close your eyes and see this scene from their eyes. Feel it. The ground convulsing under your feet. You cannot stay upright easily. The horizon bops and dips and sways in front of you. The trees are creaking and groaning as their roots are unsettled. The lightning white that shines from this heavenly being. The men you see have first shaken in fits, and now appear dead stiff.
And what do you hear? The angel calmly and assuringly says “Do not be afraid.” Hmmm….fine for YOU to say, I might be thinking. Do not be afraid?? In the midst of all this chaos and turmoil? But do those angel’s words sound at all familiar to us sitting here at St. Luke? Have we heard those words before, from another angel? If we harken back to Advent….pun intended, we did indeed hear angels’ voices that told us the same thing. The Angel Gabriel comes to tell Mary she will bear the baby the world has waited for. And his first words to Mary? “Do not be afraid.” About nine months later, when Mary delivers that child in the dirt and dark of a stable, a gathering of angels sets out to announce the good news. Do you remember? They go to the shepherds on the hills. And their first words to the shepherds? “Do not be afraid.” It seems when heaven and earth are about to collide, or do collide, God sends a messenger, an angel. And the angel’s first words are always the same: “Do not be afraid.” God seems to know that when all heaven breaks loose, we will need to be calmed, we will need reassurance.
Indeed, all heaven HAS broken loose in this scene of the resurrection. And this angel has more to say, too. After “do not be afraid” he invites “come and see”. Come and see where you thought you would find Jesus. I know you came looking for the dead, but he has been raised. Come and see where he laid. See the tomb is empty now. He is not here. “Come and see.” And then the angel says “go and tell”. Go ahead to Galilee. Find his friends. Tell them the amazing and joyous news of today, the news of Sunday. Tell them they will see him there. Do not be afraid. Come and see. Go and tell. And Matthew tells us they did go. The leave quickly, there is a sense of urgency. But there is also something else. Matthew tells us they go “with fear and great joy”. Fear….it seems the angel’s reassuring words did not erase the fear that the scene set in motion. No, the announcement of resurrection did not remove all their fear, but it allowed them to keep faith despite their fear. But they now also posses something else; great joy.
And indeed that is the Easter message. Life might be filled with fearful things; Good Friday sorts of things. But God shows up and turns those Good Fridays into something else, and from that we take great joy. The resurrection is not a promise to return all to the way it was before. Or to give us the happy ending we have envisioned. Or to remove all the stumbling blocks that seem to be in our way. The resurrection is a promise of redemption from even the worst Good Friday events. The resurrection is the assurance that God’s life and love are stronger than death. The resurrection is the declaration that our God is all about new life and never-ending possibilities. The resurrection is what allows us to keep our feet amid the earthquakes of life. The resurrection is the hope we live with.
The angels’ voices beckon us to those places where we will find God. It seems, we are always looking in the wrong places. Who would look for a king in the hay of a stable filled with animals? Who would look for the living among the dead? God is never in the places we expect. Do not be afraid, come and see, go and tell. It is always the same invitations. It is always the same overwhelming awesome joy. And there is always the same element of surprise. Where are we looking for God? Are we open to God when God shows up where we least expect? Do we want to be surprised by this God of ours who seems to delight in an upside down approach to this life? Will we let God’s love of resurrection find us and work in us, no matter what the Good Friday is that we might be facing?
As Jeremiah says it, we are loved with an everlasting love. An everlasting love that results in a continued faithfulness from God no matter what we do. A love we can never begin to fully understand. A love that triumphs over the grave. A love that calls us out of our fears. A love that invites us to come and see. A love that asks us to go and tell. An everlasting love. Jeremiah says it is a love that causes us to go forth in the dance of the merrymakers.
I cannot think of a more fitting vision of the Easter event. The dance of the merry makers! The wonder of the resurrection should indeed free us all from our fears while filling us with unmeasurable joy. It should unbind us from worries and concerns. It should be of such assurance and joy, that we cannot help but dance and be merry. And so, you may have noticed, I wore my most fun dancing shoes today! He is risen. He is risen indeed! Amen.